Social, Health, and Empowerment (S.H.E) Feminist Collective of Transgender Women of Africa, East London, South Africa.
Public Health, Societies and Belonging (PHSB) the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), Cape Town, South Africa.
BMC Public Health. 2023 May 29;23(1):990. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15977-1.
The Botshelo Ba Trans study was the first HIV bio-behavioral survey conducted with transgender women in South Africa. Engaging research with marginalized communities requires clear points of entry, reference points for understanding the internal culture, and establishing trust and understanding. The community-based participatory research approach guided the development and implementation of this study. We conducted a rapid qualitative and pre-surveillance formative assessment between August 2017 to January 2018 and a bio-behavioral survey between July 2018 and March 2019. At the start, a Steering Committee, comprising primarily of transgender women, was established and subsequently provided substantial input into the mixed methods study conducted in Buffalo City, Cape Town, and Johannesburg. Key to the study's success was building trust and establishing ownership of the survey by transgender women recognized as expert knowledge holders. Thus, a community-based participatory research-informed approach enhanced the validity of the data and ensured that we addressed relevant issues.
博塞洛巴转研究是南非首次针对跨性别女性进行的艾滋病毒生物行为调查。与边缘化社区开展研究需要明确切入点、理解内部文化的参考点，并建立信任和理解。社区参与式研究方法指导了这项研究的开展和实施。我们在 2017 年 8 月至 2018 年 1 月期间进行了快速定性和预监测形成性评估，并在 2018 年 7 月至 2019 年 3 月期间进行了生物行为调查。在开始时，成立了一个指导委员会，主要由跨性别女性组成，随后为在布法罗市、开普敦和约翰内斯堡进行的混合方法研究提供了大量投入。该研究成功的关键是建立信任，并由被公认为专家知识持有者的跨性别女性对调查建立所有权。因此，基于社区的参与式研究方法增强了数据的有效性，并确保我们解决了相关问题。
